


"I'd like it if you stayed."

by thenorthernwastrel



Category: Fable (Video Games), Fable 3 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Past Character Death, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23305510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenorthernwastrel/pseuds/thenorthernwastrel
Summary: The Hero Queen asks something of Ben that he's already ready to offer.
Relationships: Hero of Brightwall/Ben Finn
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	"I'd like it if you stayed."

"I'd like it if you stayed."

He looked down at her, her face illuminated by the fire, and watched as tears began streaming down to her fingertips at her cheek. 

“Please, Ben, I just..” Her shoulders started to shake, hand moving up to cover her face. She tried to remain calm, tried to remain quiet through their whole evening together, but lost it once the man got up to _leave_.  


He kneeled down to her, hand on her lap and face looking up so frantically _worried_ — he had never seen her like this. He’d found her nearly dead in the desert, watched as she brought down the man who was practically her father for the good of the country, but _this_?

This was its effect, he realized, the _real_ effect. Ben had been through battle, watched as men he’d shared drinks and lives with were killed right in front of him, leaving him wondering if there had been just _anything_ he could have done to save them. He’d lost friends, potential lovers, soldiers that had been practically _family_ — and he’d dealt with it all, in his own way. Sure, those ways hadn’t always been healthy, but he dealt with it. Those experiences were in the past, though they had taken a long time to get there.

And this? This was happening right now. He could feel it— could feel her reliving every second, trembling and doing _everything_ to keep herself from crying out, from admitting defeat. She had won— _they_ had won, the kingdom was saved and its people very much alive. But what of their Queen?

He knew there was nothing he could do for her, so he held her. He held her and let her ruin his shirt, let her cry and fight for hours, for days, for weeks. He never left, just as she asked, being there for her at her side, which he knew then to be his new place in the world. It was hard, for both of them, but he knew that’s all he could do. 

Until she looked at him and he could feel that she’d changed, that she was at peace, it was the least he could offer her— even if that day never came.


End file.
